by CJ Lyons
"Free will, my boy." Finally Leo's voice held a hint of regret. "I did everything in my power to prevent Grace and Lukas from meeting, then to keep the pair of you safe. Why do you think I traveled thousands of years through time? I knew this day was coming."
"I don't understand. Lukas already--" he faltered. "He's already done what's done. How are you going to change it now?"
"I can't. But with your help, Grace can prevent a greater evil." Leo nodded to the Tower looming over them, casting its shadow on them. "Finally, this time, I can stop it."
Jimmy frowned, still confused. And irritated because he knew that Leo meant him to be. "Somehow this new evil, here in the present, has its roots back three thousand years ago with Maeve?"
"I saved the Kallisteans so that Maeve could use their treasure to save her people."
"She did."
"No. She saved a few. Saved one wretched island. If she'd listened to me, she could have raised an army, swept through a continent. Then there would have been no Roman Empire--all of Europe would have been under Celtic rule. And with no Romans, a thousand years later there would have been no crucifixion."
"You're mad. Insane. What could be so evil that you try to alter the entire history of civilization to stop it?"
"Just a man. One weak, simple man." Leo's laugh was bitter. "But you've said yourself that Christianity has led to the deaths of more people than any other force in human history. So who's to call it civilization? If Maeve had heeded me instead of tending to her own tattered flock, who knows how the world would have changed."
"Not you. Yet you were willing to take the gamble with all of history to pay if you were wrong."
Leo's grin was ghastly white in the darkness. "Yes, I was. Does that frighten you? It should."
"How can you masquerade as a man of God?"
"It's easy once you realize there is no God. What do you say, Jimmy? Want to join me in changing the future?"
Jimmy looked up at that. "Me? Can I do this for Grace? Save her the pain?"
"I wish I knew. I'm not even sure if you'll have the chance to help her. The choice is solely up to her."
"Back to that free will crap again? What the bloody hell good is all this power you speak of if it all boils down to one poor, sick, tired woman's choice? How can you put that on her? It's not fair, goddamn it!"
"Fair's not a part of the bargain. But free will--without that, the entire enterprise would spin off into oblivion like a snake eating its own tail."
"I don't understand."
"You're not meant to. Does she love you, Jimmy?"
Jimmy looked up at that, effortlessly met Leo's dark, penetrating gaze. "You know she does."
"So she has courage. Has she the strength to hope?"
Jimmy hesitated, thinking of Grace's words to him earlier. "That's the only thing that's kept her alive these past four years."
"And do you love her enough to let her go? To allow her to live, to love again--with another man?"
Wicked fingers of fear reached in and chilled Jimmy's gut. The stars overhead seemed to grow distance and dim and he thought for a moment he might fall back into the void he'd been released from. He thought of Grace, of her pain, of how it had almost devoured her.
He nodded to the priest, swallowed hard and found his voice. "Yes. If it means her life, yes, I could."
Leo's smile was as wide as a Cheshire's cat's. "Good. Then maybe there's a chance. For both of you."
The howl of a madman ripped through the night, mocking his words. Lights began to flash in the Tower, silhouetting Leo in a blaze of color.
Jimmy looked past Leo to the Tower and the chaos storming the halls of the ECU. A shudder raced through him and he crossed his arms, straining to get warm.
"So it's begun," Brother Leo said in a terrifyingly calm voice. "You'd best get to work, Jimmy. Time's a’wasting."
"All I have to do is keep Grace from crossing over to the Tower?" Jimmy considered that. Given the pleasant way his first few hours back on earth had passed, that shouldn't be too difficult.
Then he spotted movement on the Skyway. He whirled as a woman's figure ran past, a dark silhouette viewed through the glass that was so close yet a lifetime away.
Jimmy bolted to the parapet, shouting her name, waving his arms in a vain attempt to get her attention, to stop her.
"Grace! No!" He teetered on the edge of the low wall, precariously close to falling into the dark chasm separating the Skyway from the helipad. Brother Leo's strong fingers dug into his arm, hauling him back to safety.
"Watch your step there, boyo."
Jimmy spun around to face the priest. "What the hell are we meant to do now? We have to stop her, you have to get her back."
"The fates have spoken," Brother Leo said with a grim smile and a one-shouldered shrug that made Jimmy want to slap some sense into him.
"Like hell they have. I'm not losing her--not again."
Leo clucked his tongue in reprimand. "Free will. She was never yours to begin with. Never lose sight of that, old man."
Jimmy advanced on the monk, fists raised, ready to do some serious damage. Leo raised a hand and Jimmy found himself frozen in place, unable to even breathe. His heart, that wonderful machine whose thrumping had so entranced him since his return, he felt it stutter, then lurch to a stop.
He was dead, or hovering on the brink of death. Held back only by Leo's power.
"If you hurry, you might still be able to save the boy. And through him, find a second chance to save Grace. You must keep her with the boy."
For a brief moment Jimmy's vision reddened with fury. Used, abused--he was a pawn in a game that he did not understand. Powerless.
His chest began to constrict as the need for oxygen became urgent. Leo waved his hand once more and Jimmy stumbled forward, gasping for air, his heart pounding.
"The best you can do for Grace is to save the boy," Leo repeated.
The door to the Annex flew open as a gust of wind whipped around the Jesuit, blurring his form and blinding Jimmy's vision. Jimmy blinked and he was alone on the rooftop.
He stared for a long moment at the now brightly lit Tower. Shadowy figures were silhouetted, racing along the ECU's corridors in a frenzy. One of them was Grace, he was certain.
He squeezed his eyes shut, praying as he had never prayed before in this life or the one previous. Please God--if there is a God--protect and keep her safe. Please.
He turned and ran through the Annex door, pounding down the steps to the pediatric unit.
Grace had no code beeper, but old habits died hard. She'd jolted awake immediately when the operator announced the Code. Grabbed her clothes and raced from the Annex when she heard the room number, not even taking time to wonder where Jimmy had vanished to or to close the door behind her.
Who cared if she was discovered? It was Kat in trouble.
Procedures and protocols as familiar as a catechism ran through her mind. It had been four years but there were some things you just never forgot.
Like how to save a life.
When she reached Kat's room, nurses were milling around, one sliding a board under the girl's seizing body, another holding oxygen near her blue tinged face. A third was pushing a crash cart in from the hallway, his face red with the effort.
"How long's she been seizing?" Grace took control of the situation and no one questioned her presence or her authority. She moved to the head of the bed, replacing the oxygen mask with a bag, carefully forcing oxygen into Kat's lungs.
"17 minutes. Valium given per protocol but no response."
"Give me 800 of fosphenytoin and draw up 500 milligrams of phenobarb." More people began to fill the room and Grace handed over control of Kat's airway to a respiratory therapist. She pushed the anticonvulsant medication into the IV line in Kat's forearm. Nothing more to do now except wait for the drugs to take effect. She stroked Kat's shoulder as the girl's body continued to buck and strain.
Then after several minutes that seemed l
ike an eternity, the seizure slowed. Grace yanked a stethoscope from a hovering resident and listened. Kat was breathing normally again. "Get me a set of vitals, start her on 100% oxygen by mask."
The crowd slowly dissipated, most of the residents and medical students disappointed by the anticlimactic resuscitation. No chance to perform any invasive procedures or even to practice an intubation. They grumbled over the missed sleep Kat had stolen from them and yawned their way back to their call rooms.
"Who the hell are you?" a woman asked from the doorway as Grace felt Kat's pulse.
Grace looked up, giving Kat's hand a reassuring squeeze. The woman marched into the room as if she owned it, tall and regal, her blonde hair so pale it seemed almost transparent in the harsh gleam of the fluorescent lights.
"Dr. D'Angelo," Grace told her. She didn't like this woman. Something about her brought forth the memory of the panic attack she'd experienced yesterday when she was trapped inside the revolving doors. Her mouth filled with the taste of copper salts and burnt flesh.
She wasn't leaving Kat here, not alone with this woman. Eve Warden. The Witch.
Warden flicked a penlight over Kat's pupils, quickly assessed her patient's reflexes and respiratory status before looking up at Grace once more. Her eyes were the color of steel--flat, without depth. Hard as steel, too, Grace thought, but she met the woman's gaze without flinching.
"I'm Dr. Eve Warden, head of the ECU, and this girl is my patient." The woman dismissed Grace with an impervious wave of her hand. Then her eyes narrowed and cut back to Grace, focusing on her face.
Grace had the sudden feeling that this woman knew who she was. The urge to run was overwhelming. She tightened her grip on Kat's hand, more for her own protection than the girl's.
Warden's gaze took in Grace's scrubs. Where was the hospital ID, the paraphernalia of a doctor on duty, the questions burned through Warden's expressionless gaze. Then Warden arched an eyebrow, focusing on the bright row of staples along Grace's left temple. And she smiled.
Kat was all right now, Grace told herself as she released her grip on the now sleeping girl. She despised the wave of fear that knotted her stomach but she couldn't stay here, not with this woman.
Before she could turn tail and flee, Warden reached out a hand, taking Grace's. Grace gave a tiny whimper, shaming herself with her cowardice, and tried to pull away.
Panic now gripped her, the buzzing wasps joined by darts of fire that raced from Warden's grip to consume Grace, paralyzing her.
"It's Grace, isn't it?" Warden asked, her eyes of liquid steel plunging into Grace's soul like daggers.
The blood fled from Grace's face, replaced by icy fingers that burnt and choked, stopping her breath before air could reach her lungs, mingling with the terrific roar of wasps and the jolts of fiery pain that seared her limbs. Her chest was being crushed from inside and without as a red haze filled her vision.
No need to wait for the tumor to do its job. The mere touch of this woman, the sound of her voice, and Grace was about to die.
CHAPTER 24
The Tower
Jimmy tore down the four flights of stairs as if pursued by a banshee. The damn clogs clip-clopped with a fury of noise that reverberated like shotgun blasts, enough to wake the dead.
If he had breath enough, the thought would have made him laugh. As it was, it only spurred him faster until he almost tripped over his own feet as he plunged through the door to Pediatrics.
The children's ward was dark, only the dim lights of the nurse's station in the middle of the corridor shed any light. The entire unit was silent except for the faint beeping of a distant monitor.
Jimmy slowed his steps, clutching the too-small lab coat around him as if it would hide him from prying eyes. He kept his gait quiet, heading down the hallway to Alex's room. He arrived without incident and pushed the door open.
To his surprise, Alex was wide awake, staring at the door as if waiting for him. Surrounding him were the three bald girls.
"Something's wrong, isn't it?" Alex said.
One of the girls, a skinny lass with gorgeous blue eyes that looked all the larger given her missing eyelashes, hugged him in sympathy. Heather, Jimmy remembered. The girls looked at him as if they knew who he was, accepted his presence without question.
"Maybe," Jimmy said, not wanting to cause the boy more distress.
Alex was already breathing hard and fast, drawing in oxygen from a machine that fit over his forehead and face like a horse's bridle.
"Is it Kat? I heard them page her room number." The machine whistled as Alex sucked in air. "Where's Grace? She was supposed to be here."
"My name's Jimmy. Grace sent me to keep you company."
Alex slit his eyes at him, scrutinizing Jimmy. Jimmy stepped forward, offering a hand. Alex stared at it a long moment, as if expecting a trick, then finally took it. Then he surprised Jimmy by reaching for Jimmy's left hand as well. The boy twisted Jimmy's wedding ring between his fingers.
"This is just like Grace's. You were with her yesterday after she got trapped in the doors." He turned to the girls gathered beside his bed. "She's in trouble, isn't she?"
The girls remained silent but they all bobbed their heads in affirmation. Jimmy watched the strange tableau, the glimmer of a plan beginning to form in his mind.
"Do you think you sweet lasses could give me a hand?" he asked in his most charming voice. "Take a stroll across the Skyway for me? Fetch Grace back?"
The eldest of the girls, Tiffany, smiled at that. Just as Jimmy began to relax, thinking he'd found his answer in these three girls, she cocked her hand on her hip as only women knew how to do. The other two looked to her, waiting for her answer. "Sorry, Jimmy. We're not allowed to leave the floor."
Jimmy wrapped his hand around the bedrail, his grasp threatening to dent the metal. "It'll be all right," he wheedled, hating the desperation that crept into his voice. "I'll be with you most of the way."
"But not all the way," Brittany put in.
Alex turned to the girls. "Can't you help? It's for Grace."
Heather gave him another hug, then all three joined hands and began to stroll from the room. "Don't worry, Alex. You can do it." She blew a kiss to both Jimmy and Alex, then they were gone.
Jimmy looked at the pale wraith of a child dwarfed by the bed and the machines surrounding him. What good were the two of them? A ghost-turned-man who couldn't cross a fucking bridge and a boy resembling a ghost who would never be able to make it that far without collapsing.
Could he risk this boy's life by sending him into the darkness of the Tower?
Grace felt her soul slipping away, being drained from her as her body swayed against Kat's bed, Eve Warden's claw-like hand gripping hers.
God, she had no idea it would hurt this bad, she thought as red-hot flames of pain possessed her, blinding her to everything except Kat's face, peaceful, at rest.
She had to fight, couldn't abandon Kat to the Witch. Struggling to breathe, she tried to pull her hand away from Eve's grip. The other woman only squeezed tighter, her talons digging into Grace's skin, her beady eyes devouring Grace's strength like a cosmic vampire.
"Is Kat all right?" Alex's voice warbled its way through the air, a gasp of breath punctuating each word.
And Grace was saved.
Eve turned her gaze to the defenseless boy. Alex struggled to keep on his feet as he leaned against the door frame, breathless with exertion.
A shudder raced through Grace's body, chasing away the fire and ice, drowning the wasps as she gulped in fresh air. She couldn't let Eve Warden take these children. She wouldn't.
"Of course, honey." Eve's syrupy sweet tone pealed out like a bell. "Why don't you go back to bed?"
Go, Alex. Go. Grace fought to bring voice to the words, but her breath still came in short gasps. She slid her hand from Eve's, amazed her fingers weren't burnt to a crisp, and clutched at the bedrail.
Alex took a deep inhalation that reverberated through the r
oom, then took the three steps needed to move to Grace's side. He reached out a hand to Grace, clasping hers in the strong grip climbers shared. She wrapped her fingers around his bony wrist and was able to breathe once more. A warm tingle of energy seemed to flow from her to Alex and back again.
"Jimmy sent me," he told her.
If she had the energy, Grace would have laughed. Of course Jimmy sent him--which meant that Alex could see her ghost of a husband also. Her stomach fluttered with the memory of the passion she and Jimmy had shared mere hours ago.
What the hell was happening to her? To all of them? She straightened and reached her other hand to Kat's limp one, drawing the unconscious girl into the circuit of energy.
"Kat's going to be fine," she spoke the words not just for Alex's benefit, but as a promise to Warden, her eyes meeting the other physician's with a crackle of energy.
Before Eve could reply, Vincent rushed into the room. He took in the tableau, his hands smoothing his rumpled scrubs, tightening the drawstring of his pants. Grace noted Eve's possessive smile as she gazed upon the flustered pediatrician.
"What happened?" Vincent asked.
"Just a seizure." Eve dismissed the almost fatal event as incidental. "I'm glad you're here, Dr. Emberek," she said, moving to take his arm, but her gaze darted back to Grace. "Look who I've found. Our missing patient. Grace Moran."
Vincent flushed and Grace realized that he hadn't betrayed her to Eve. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
"No," Alex said, clutching Grace with both hands now. She reached an arm around his shoulders, supporting his weight as his body sagged against hers. "You promised, Vincent."
Eve's laughter etched through the air, the brittle sound of icicles smashing. "You need to go back to your room, Alex. We'll take good care of your friend."
Alex ignored Eve, his stare capturing Vincent.
Vincent shifted his weight, obviously uncomfortable with the confrontation. His hair was disheveled and he looked disoriented, unable to focus or make eye contact with any of them except Eve Warden.